Brighten Boring Built-Ins with Fabric

I have been thinking about painting the back of our built-in bookcases in the living room for a while now. But I could never do it. The built-ins are custom-built and I just couldn’t stomach the idea of painting them and then hating it.

Then I had an idea…

What if I used fabric?

Then it wouldn’t be permanent! No painter’s regret!

As I’ve always said, DIY is a logic game, so I had to figure some things out:

1. How would I hang the fabric so that it would stay flat and un-wrinkled?

2. How would I hang the fabric so that it wouldn’t tear on a nail or staple?

3. If I attached the fabric to a board or something like that, the board would have to be thin enough to fit behind the shelves.

4. What kind of fabric? Nothing too heavy, nothing too light. I didn’t want anything with straight horizontal lines because the shelves are horizontal; I didn’t want anything with straight vertical lines because many of the books would make vertical lines. I needed something not too vertical, not too horizontal.

OK – here’s what we started with…our living room built-ins:

Before – Left Side of the Living Room

Before – Right Side of the Living Room

Not bad, but a bit blah. The shelves seemed cluttered to me, and needed a pop of color.

How did I do it?

Here’s how to brighten boring built-ins with fabric:

First, measure the back of the built-in. Then measure it again. Trust me. Measure twice, cut once. Trust me. (I measured once and was off by an inch and it cost me another trip to the fabric store and extra fabric.)

Once I had measured the back of the built-in, I cut poster board to size.

What?

Poster board?

I’m not kidding. Poster board. I used just regular white poster board. Got it at the grocery store.

Because the space at the back of the built-in was 54 1/4 inches high, I needed more than one piece of poster board, so I connected the cut pieces together with duct tape.

Right, duct tape. This just keeps getting better, right?!?

I used white duct tape, because it was the same color as the poster board and I didn’t want the tape to show through the fabric.

After I cut the poster board, then I cut the fabric. I added at least half an inch to each side so that I could fold it around the poster board. Note: the fabric was 54 inches wide; the built-ins were 23 3/4 inches wide on the left and 25 1/4 on the right. That meant that I could just cut the fabric in half and get a good width.

I centered the poster board on the cut fabric. I then attached the fabric to the poster board, again, with duct tape.

You can see I did this on the guest room bed. Then I remembered that I had a cutting board I could use that would make things much, much easier!

I bought the cutting board a while ago at Goodwill for 99 cents. It’s in great shape…

…especially since it’s from 1967. How cool is that?

But I digress.

Once I attached the fabric to the poster board, I made sure the fabric was even and lined up, and then it was time to hang it up.

I used a staple gun to hang it. The back of the built-in is plywood and the poster board and fabric were relatively thin. I figured a nail would be too much for the board and fabric.

The staples are small and would be hidden by either the shelves or the books to be placed on the shelves.

I then made the other three poster fabric panels, making sure to line up the fabric so that it looked even with the built-in next to it. Depending on what kind of pattern you use, you could make this easier (or harder). The chevron pattern wasn’t too hard to line up.

Here’s the finished product – first, without books and other stuff on the shelves:

Then, all finished:

Left Side – Finished

Right Side – Finished (Note: The ceiling isn’t level; it’s not the built-in.)

My Favorite Shelf

I got this sign at a thrift store for $5. The upcycled materials rooster came from a local store (no longer in business).

I loved this fire truck toy…from a local consignment store.

There’s the big picture…I love the pop of color the fabric gives. Perfect.

Glad Hank got a nap today.

The great thing about this project is that anyone can do it. If you live in a rental, you could do this and just take them down when you move. Easy peasy.

So, just to compare…

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

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About Karen Cooper

Hi! I'm Karen. I call myself a “recovering lawyer” - I traded in my power suits for power tools and a life of DIY adventures. Join me for DIY, home decorating, repurposing and upcycling, and organizing projects and tips as I transform a 1929 Tudor bungalow into our home. I believe in merging old and new to make a house a home.

Karen, this loos fantastic and I love your fabric and how you put it together. SO loving your vintage cutting board, it is awesome! Thanks for sharing, pinning and have a wonderful weekend! Oh and going to share on my FB page today. 🙂

That is pure brilliance Karen!!! I love it…..I wish I had shelves so I could copy it 🙂 The fact that it is put together with duct tape, make it a perfect project for me! By the way, your pinterest paw print, connects to twitter 🙂

Thanks, Lisa! You could copy it on any bookcase that has removable shelves. Super easy project. Thanks for the tip re the paws – they are big, so you have to hover to make sure they go to the right place. Thanks again!

My built-in’s shelves don’t come out and they are built directly into the wall, so there is no space behind them. I love this idea to add a pop of color behind the books, but is there a way to adapt what you did here to my set of circumstances?

Cris – Great question! Absolutely. Just cut the poster board to the size of the opening between the shelves, rather than as one big panel. Then attach them to the back of the shelves the same way. Given that those panels are going to be smaller and lighter, you could attach them with the staple gun (like in the post with the larger panels) or you could even use double-stick tape or hook and loop/Velcro to attach them. Good luck!

I love this idea. I have some built ins in my family room that are driving me crazy. They were not fabulous when we moved in and I painted them, but still don’t love them. This just might be my answer.
Shawna

First, that’s so stinkin’ cute! Second, can’t believe you used poster board! Who would have thought?! I have a bookshelf I’ve been thinking about adding something to, but wasn’t sure how to do it. Now I know. I’m visiting from the Brag About It link party.

It’s a shame you don’t have a donate button! I’d certainly donate
to this fantastic blog! I guess for now i’ll settle for book-marking and
adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to new updates and
will share this blog with my Facebook group.
Talk soon!

Hi! I’m Karen. I call myself a “recovering lawyer,” because I turned in my power suits for power tools and a life of DIY. This blog is all about DIY, home decorating, repurposing and upcycling, and organization. I believe in merging old and new to make a house a home.

find projects here!

My Daybed in This Old House Magazine!

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